By Sola Ogundipe

FOR its commitment towards taking up the challenge of defeating pneumonia in the country, the Federal government last week recieved commendation of the UNICEF Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Mr. Jacques Boyer.

At the occasion which was a State House , Abuja event to herald this year’s World Pneumonia Day, Boyer noted that if government had the right tools, communities nationwide will be able to save the lives of thousands of children every year.

Nigeria is a signatory to the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) which UNICEF and WHO drew up in 2009 as a global strategy for defeating the disease. Already, the Federal Ministry of Health, with UNICEF’s support, is set to launch the National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia. First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and other partners  were on hand to witness the event, which was part of a global movement to fight pneumonia which in Nigeria alone is responsible for deaths of 200,000 children every year.

A statement issued by UNICEF describes pneumonia as a threat to mostly the very young and the very old. It is the leading infectious cause of death in children under five years of age in every region of the world, killing two million every year.

The statement notes that there is no single cause of pneumonia, but some of the major ones are preventable. It looks at measles and pneumococcal vaccines as important and powerful tools to ward off the disease. If caught early, pneumonia is highly curable with an inexpensive course of antibiotics. Parents need to be able to seek and access care quickly, and health workers, especially at the community level, need to be able to diagnose and treat the disease appropriately.